Judge Dismisses Donald Trump's Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton Over Russia Probe

Donald Trump's lawsuit against his 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and former top FBI officials has been dismissed by a federal judge in Florida, rejecting the former president's claims that they conspired with others to create the Russia investigation that dogged much of his administration.

In a stern order on Thursday, US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks stated that Trump's March lawsuit had "glaring structural deficiencies" and that many of the "characterizations of events are improbable."

Judge Tosses Donald Trump's Russia Probe Lawsuit

Per AP News, the judge rejected the notion that Trump had filed a lawsuit to address a real legal violation, stating that "this Court is not the right forum" and that instead, "he is attempting to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto expressing his complaints against those that have opposed him."

In addition to former FBI Director James Comey and other FBI employees engaged in the investigation into whether Trump's 2016 presidential campaign had cooperated with Russia to impact the election, the complaint had listed Clinton and some of her senior advisors as defendants.

In a 108-page lawsuit filed in March, Trump accused Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, and a number of other Democrats of "racketeering," "conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood," and other offenses. This lawsuit echoed the long list of complaints Trump frequently voiced during his four years as president after defeating Clinton, Daily Mail reported.

He claimed he had spent more than $24 million on "defense expenditures, legal fees, and related expenses" and had demanded compensatory and punitive damages.

Middlebrooks ruled that Trump had overstepped the legal deadline for filing his lawsuit and had failed to establish that any false statements had caused him injury. He further noted that several of the defendants' assertions were "plainly protected by the First Amendment" of the US Constitution.

The defendants included former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who oversaw one of the House of Representatives' impeachments of Donald Trump. Steele's dossier was distributed to the FBI and media outlets before to the 2016 election. Peter Strzok, one of the "FBI lovers," was also named in the case.

Trump To Appeal Dismissal

The owners of a political research company that hired a former British spy to look into Trump's ties to Russia are also defendants, as is a well-connected Democratic lawyer who was recently cleared of lying to the FBI during a meeting in which he provided the agency with information it wanted to look into.

However, none of the assertions, according to the court, provided evidence for Trump's allegations of a plot against him. Middlebrooks stated that the Amended Complaint "seeks to substitute length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances for what the Amended Complaint lacks in content and legal merit."

A 2019 Justice Department inspector general report did point out some errors made by the FBI during the Russia investigation, but it did not discover any proof that the probe's inception was driven by political bias on the part of the bureau's leaders, who claimed the investigation was launched for a legitimate reason.

A second investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller led to criminal charges being brought against almost thirty persons and organizations and revealed widespread Russian election influence, but it failed to prove a criminal conspiracy involving the Trump campaign. Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, announced on Friday that Trump will challenge the dismissal, as per PBS.